BellView Boutique Hotel

A boutique hotel doesn’t have to be a design hotel, in the modern or contemporary sense — any hotel that’s modestly sized, memorable, and presents a unique point of view on its setting qualifies as a boutique hotel, in our book. Puerto Vallarta’s BellView Boutique Hotel fits the bill, even though its style is antique from top to bottom. For while there are plenty of bigger and more contemporary hotels in this town, there’s nothing else like BellView, whose four rooms and suites are overflowing with the sort of historical elegance that’s in painfully short supply around here.

Ironically, it’s set in a city-center neighborhood nicknamed “Gringo Gulch,” just a few blocks up the hill from Banderas Bay and the beaches. The views, naturally, are among its charms, as the sun sets more or less straight out to sea. It’s a fine setting from which to get out and explore a more authentic side of Puerto Vallarta than you’ll find in the hotel zone a mile to the north. And it presents a strong case for staying in, at least for dinner: La Cappella is the open-air restaurant, serving contemporary Italian fare accompanied by a generous selection of wines and cocktails.